John Key wanted to be in the Five Eyes “club”, but I guess that didn’t focus group well, so now we’re being fed a new line – “family”. Britain’s visiting Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond was all over the telly last night: “Frankly we’ve got used to New Zealand being there alongside us, alongside the US, the UK, and Australia as part of the family.”
Andrea Vance had summarised the response of many: Philip Hammond’s blunt, thoughtless message to Kiwis.
Hammond was in Wellington for talks with Prime Minister John Key and Foreign Minister Murray McCully. It was not a courtesy call – it became clear at a media conference that Hammond was here to lean on New Zealand.
Kiwis are being encouraged into the Iraqi conflict. But not the immigration gates at Heathrow.
I think I preferred No Right Turn’s version: The Five Eyes are not my fucking family.
Fuck off. I’m not part of Britain’s “family”. I was born in New Zealand, a democratic country committed to peace and human rights, not that war-mongering authoritarian oligarchy half a world away. The idea that we should simply line up behind our former colonial master is both insulting and dangerous. Sadly, I expect that is exactly what Key will do.
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